CANADA WINS MEN’S GOLD MEDAL

Canada has taken the men’s Gold medal at the FIVB World Tour at Volleyfest on Manly Beach in Sydney this afternoon, defeating France in two quick sets
in front of a sell-out crowd.

Canadian Olympian Ben Saxton and his new partner, 24 year old Grant O’Gorman, were thrilled with their win.

“My sister won a gold medal in Sydney earlier in the year so I couldn’t let her be the only one in the family,” said Saxton.

The French had earlier defeated Australia’s best men’s team of Chris McHugh and Damien Schumann who fought hard in a tough three set semi-final. That meant
a Bronze medal play-off for the Aussies against a US duo of William Kolinske and Miles Evans.

While the Aussies lost the first set 21-16, they found their groove in the second set and came back with a solid 21-13 win to level the match. The final
set saw the Americans nudge in front and, while the Aussies chased hard all the way, they just couldn’t get back on top, finally going down 15-11.

The US team is relatively new to the FIVB World Tour and could hardly contain their excitement at beating the Aussie favourites on their home soil.

“We’ve only played about four FIVB tournaments this season just trying to gain experience as we go so it’s been awesome,” said Kolinske.

However, Olympian Louise Bawden and partner Jess Nguauamo went down 2-0 to Japanese pair Azusa Futami and Akiko Hasegawa and are now out of the competition.
Futami and Hasegawa will play China in Sunday’s semi-finals.

Sunday…Action at Volleyfest on Manly Beach starts at 10am. The women’s semi-finals first up from 10am until 12pm, then the women’s Bronze medal match at 2pm
and the women’s Gold medal match on centre court at 3pm.